Aphasia Access Conversations

In this episode, Janet Patterson (Chief of the Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology Service at the VA Northern California Health Care System) speaks with Dominique Herrington, Director of the Aphasia Group of Middle Tennessee, which is housed in the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Pi Beta Phi Rehabilitation Institute at Vanderbilt University in Nashville Tennessee. They dive deep into the Aphasia Group of Middle Tennessee with the hopes that it can both inform and inspire others.

Dominique received her Masters of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Montevallo and is a certified and licensed Speech-Language Pathologist. She is a Senior Clinical Education Associate for Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, serving as the Assistant Manager of Pi Beta Phi Rehabilitation Institute as well as the Program Coordinator for the Aphasia Group and Aphasia Program of Middle Tennessee.

In today’s episode you will:

• Hear about persons with aphasia who are so dedicated to the aphasia group that they travel long distances on public transportation;
• Discover how the Aphasia Group of Middle Tennessee evolved from a focus on impairment-based treatment to becoming a learning lab for students and persons with aphasia;
• Learn about the Mile Marker Project.

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In an episode focused on “Insights and ‘Aha Moments’ about Aphasia Care”. Dr. Katie Strong (Central Michigan University) speaks with Aphasia Access President Ruth Fink about her career and the vision and initiatives of Aphasia Access.  Ruth Fink, MA, CCC-SLP is a co-founder and retired Clinical Director of MossRehab Aphasia Center, and Scientist Emeritus of Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute. A founding member of Aphasia Access, she currently serves as Board President. After 20 years as a clinical SLP, she joined the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute as a Research Associate where she served as Co-PI and Project Director on treatment research in the areas of sentence processing, word retrieval, and computer-assisted applications in aphasia rehabilitation.

In today’s episode you will:

• Hear Ruth share about how her career followed the course that a client might follow and about how magic happens in aphasia groups
• Learn three tips for how to transition from a clinician to a clinician researcher
• Hear about Aphasia Access’ vision to advance lifelong communication access for people with aphasia
• Learn how you can become a volunteer with Aphasia Access

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Janet Patterson (V.A. Northern California Health Care System) speaks with Denise McCall, the Program Director of SCALE at The League for People with Disabilities in Baltimore, Maryland, about their unique organizational structure.

Denise McCall co-founded SCALE back in 2008 and, in 2014, it merged with The League and has turned into a specialty program there as part of their medical day program. Denise has over 30 years of experience as a clinician and a researcher. She has served persons with aphasia across the continuum of care and has contributed to international research and grant programs to improve aphasia care. Denise is a certified speech language pathologist and is one of the founders of Aphasia Access - currently serving as an active member on its Development Committee. She received a B.S. in Communication Disorders and in Psychology from Towson University and earned a master's degree from George Washington University.

In today's episode, you will:

• Learn about SCALE’s history and the unique manner in which it combines an LPAA model and a medical model for serving people with aphasia;
• Understand how SCALE was transformed through their search for new funding opportunities;
• Hear about SCALE “Accounts Meetings” and “SCALE Tenets”.

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Dr. Jerry Hoepner (University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire) speaks with Dr. Tom Sather about the concept of flow and how it can be applied to the LPAA framework for people with aphasia. 

Tom Sather is an Assistant Professor in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department at the University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire. He continues to work clinically as a speech language pathologist with adults and families of those with neurogenic, cognitive, communication, and swallowing difficulties in the critical care, acute care, and outpatient settings at the Mayo Clinic Health Systems in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He earned his Ph.D. at Western Michigan University's Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Ph.D. program studying the concept of flow and aphasia. 

In today’s episode, you will:

• Find out what flow is
• Learn how flow applies to people living with aphasia
• Learn about the interaction between environment and flow experience
• Hear about the experience sampling method and its applications to the study of aphasia and the life participation approach

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Ellen Bernstein-Ellis (California State University, East Bay) speaks with Gretchen Szabo about the power of scripting in the treatment of aphasia.

Gretchen Szabo, M.A., CCC-SLP is a research speech-language pathologist and Aphasia Communication Group Coordinator at the Adler Aphasia Center in New Jersey. She also serves as an adjunct professor at Montclair State University. She has over 10 years of experience working with individuals with aphasia. Her research and clinical focus is on functional and community based treatment approaches to aphasia and on awareness and advocacy initiatives for aphasia.

In today’s episode, you will:

• Find out the connection between LPAA values and using scripting as a therapy approach;
• Understand personal, impairment, and environmental factors that may contribute to successful vs. unsuccessful script implementation;
• Hear a story sharing how scripting impacted the participation of a client with severe aphasia.

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Dr. Katie Strong (Central Michigan University) interviews Dr. Janet Whiteside. Dr. Whiteside shares her aha moment and her 40 years of experience working with individuals with aphasia and her time spent running the remarkable Aphasia House at the University of Central Florida. 

• Learn the power environment has on changing communication;
• Take away a few tips on how you might ‘remodel’ your own clinical program;
• Learn about three models of clinical training programs within three Aphasia House;
• Be inspired to be a dreamer and go after your dreams to further the LPAA mission.

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Have you ever asked yourself, “What do you mean I need a consent form? We are just presenting on a project we did with our community aphasia group.” Dr. Myrna Schwartz speaks with Dr. Janet Patterson about the important role of ethics and institutional review in clinical research activities in which community aphasia groups may wish to participate. It’s an important and often confusing topic that all people who are interested in either research or program evaluation should understand.

In this episode, you will:

• Hear Dr. Schwartz describe the human face of research and the importance of institutional review board activities and informed consent to clinical research happening in community aphasia groups;
• Learn how to differentiate inward focused research examining Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement of a community aphasia group from outward focused research designed to answer a clinical question;
• Learn strategies and techniques for your community aphasia group to develop an institutional review board or to partner with a university or hospital for clinical research activities.

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Ellen Bernstein-Ellis of California State University, East Bay interviews Dr. Elizabeth Hoover, a Clinical Associate Professor of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences and the Clinical Director of the Aphasia Resource Center at Boston University. They discuss Dr. Hoover’s work with aphasia groups at the Aphasia Resource Center at Boston University as well as the exciting research she’s undertaking.

In this episode, you will:

• Learn how to involve IPP elements in your aphasia program to address the increase in sedentary behavior and the need for nutritional counseling post stroke;
• Understand how to use the A-FROM to help develop and implement participation goals within an IPP framework;
• Gain an example of how to target specific verbs within a daily conversation group;
• Get an early glimpse into new research by Dr. Hoover and Dr. DeDe examining the impact of group size on outcomes for conversational group treatment.

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In this episode, Guest Interviewer Dr. Liz Hoover brings together three pioneers of LPAA, Dr. Roberta Elman, Dr. Aura Kagan, and Dr. Nina Simmons-Mackie, to share their perspectives on some of the early roots of LPAA and to offer insights about each of its five tenets. Enjoy this lively exchange about LPAA core values.

A special thank you to Lyssa Rome, a new Cal State East Bay alumni, who is not only a new SLP and AA member, but who kindly put her previous job skills as a radio producer to work in helping with this episode.

In this episode, you will:

• Get the insider view of the history of the LPAA Statement of Values 
• Listen to a description of the five core LPAA values and their importance to providing patient-centered care
• Better understand how personal factors and the environment play critical roles within the LPAA framework
• Hear advice for the new clinician about how to make a limited number of speech therapy sessions “count”

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Dr. Katie Strong of Central Michigan University presents an episode on The State of Aphasia in North America. She interviews Dr. Nina Simmons-Mackie about Aphasia Access' recent report on the State of Aphasia. 

Nina Simmons-Mackie Ph.D., BC-ANCDS is Professor and Scholar in Residence at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, LA. She is past president of Aphasia Access and serves on the current Aphasia Access board. She has received the Honors of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders & Sciences and the Louisiana Speech-Language-Hearing Association. She received an Outstanding Clinical Achievement Award from the American Speech, Language and Hearing Foundation. Dr. Simmons-Mackie has many years of clinical, academic and research experience in neurogenic communication disorders and has published numerous articles and chapters in the area of adult aphasia. Interests include aphasia, qualitative research, and social model philosophies.

In today’s episode, you will hear:

• The story that inspired the State of Aphasia in North America Report;
• A guided tour of the organization of the report;
• A few of Nina’s highlights from the report including the Impact of Social Isolation and Services for Aphasia.

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